Leadership through storytelling takes another look at your toxic professional stories. You know, the ones you bury, because you associate these stories not only with personal and professional embarrassment and humiliation. But also, with toxic workplace environments.
Often, you move on: from toxic colleagues, workplaces and stories. However, you remain good and stuck in these stories, spinning your professional wheels. As a result, you are unable to move one millimeter forward. Beyond the mindset, biases and baggage which still hold you back from delivering on who you are: a Professional of Tremendous Worth.
There always is a story behind the toxic professional stories which you are stuck inside.
Tomorrow, I deliver a breakout presentation at the 2019 IEEE Women in Engineering International Leadership Conference in Austin TX. I speak on how professional purpose is the key to professional innovation.
Developing purpose-driven professional innovation starts by taking another solid look at those professional stories.
- Otherwise, you remain stuck in the past, instead of fully present in today, tomorrow and the future.
- Alternatively, revisiting these stories allows you to rewrite them from a wiser perspective, to get to where you need to go.
Professional stories have an awful lot (sometimes literally) going on. And, these stories just may not be primarily about you.
- Consider the cast of contributing characters: behind the scenes, on the sidelines and in front of our faces.
- In giving yourself permission to revisit these stories, you rediscover and redefine yourself in terms of your unique professional purpose.
Liberate yourself from toxic professional stories. Lead a more employee- and customer-focused workforce.
Consider the type of professional stories you want everyone to be able to discover, create, and tell. Together. Regardless of job titles, pay grades, levels of education and generations.
Ponder that potentially everyone in your workforce is stuck in their own toxic professional stories. Like you, these stories hold them back, making them feel marginalized and excluded.
Then, evaluate the human capital value of creating a storytelling culture on based on professionally diverse and inclusive employee and customer experiences, success and retention.
Ultimately, our professional stories – yours and mine – are co-created together: for better or for worse. When you liberate yourself from toxic professional stories, you also liberate your colleagues from the same. Get to where you need to go, together. Leverage co-created stories to better serve each other, and your customers.
Isn’t it time you moved that first millimeter forward, beyond the toxic professional stories which still hold you (and your colleagues) back?
- Planning your next corporate or association meeting? Engage me to present one of my Storytelling for STEM Professionals and Left Brain Thinkers speaking programs, workshops or moderated facilitation services. Contact me here.
- Download my new checklist and worksheet: Six Professional Development Targets to Hit each Month.
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Babette Ten Haken’s One Millimeter Mindset® Storytelling Speaking Programs, Workshops and Facilitation Services leverage storytelling for STEM professionals and left brain thinkers to catalyze employee and customer success and retention. She motivates individuals and teams to combine courage, curiosity and critical thinking skills to co-create compelling stories which inspire trust in one another. Especially in industries with STEM and left-brain stakeholders.
Find out more about Babette’s professional story here. Babette is a member of SME, ASQ, SHRM and the National Speakers Association. Her playbook of communication hacks, Do YOU Mean Business? is available on Amazon.com. Babette’s speaker profile is on the espeakers platform. Contact Babette here.
Image source: Adobe Stock
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